If you're like most students, you probably started this new academic year with a resolution to study harder. Now, science can help you keep your resolution. Recent discoveries in brain research point to better ways to learn.
How does the brain save new information? Think of the last time you looked up number in the telephone book and dialed it. Could you remember that number a five minutes later? Probably not! That's because it's in your short-term memory.
Our memory actually has three components. Sensory memory takes in information from our five senses, but these memories last just a few seconds Short-term memory works like a "holding area" for new information-that's where you keep the phone number while you dial it. But if you can put the phone number into long-term memory, you'll remember that same phone number next week. This part of your memory holds everything from irregular s verbs to the names of all your cousins.
When you study, you transfer new information into long-term memory. Every time we learn something new, the structure of the brain actually changes, as we build new connections to information that we already know. When there are more connections to the new information, it’s easier to find again.